World Cup Googlies

The first women’s World Cup was held back in 1973 in England, two years before the inaugural edition of men’s World Cup in 1975. Seems like ladies are always first.

It is the first time since the 1992 World Cup -- after 25 years -- the upcoming World Cup in England will be played in the round robin format where all the ten teams will be playing against each other once in the league stage.

It is the fifth time that the Cricket World Cup will be held in England and Wales, following the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups.

This is the first time the World Cup will see two of the Test playing nation not participating as the tournament will be played without Ireland and Zimbabwe. Also, this is the first time that the World Cup will be played without any associate teams participating.

Netherlands’ Nolan Clarke is the oldest player to play in the World Cup. His age was 47, when he played the 1996 World Cup. Similarly, Nitish Kumar represented Canada in 2011 tournament when he was 16, making him the youngest.

During the 2015 quarter finals between New Zealand and West Indies, 31 sixes were hit, which is the highest in a World Cup game.

In 2007, Ed Joyce represented England and Eoin Morgan represented Ireland. In 2011, Eoin Morgan represented England and Ed Joyce represented Ireland.

Australia had a 12-game winning streak from 1999 to 2011. They lost a league match against Pakistan in 1999. They were unbeaten in 2003 & 2007. It was again Pakistan which ended their winning streak in a league game in 2011.

Pakistan’s World Cup winning captain Imran Khan returned to international cricket in 1988 after announcing his retirement the previous year. It was at the request of the Pakistani President, General Zia-Ul-Haq, that the all-rounder represented the country again. Eventually, he gave Pakistan their first World Cup.

In 2003 World Cup, in a league match against Sri Lanka, Sachin was suffering from diarrhea. He wore a diaper and came to bat and went on to score 97.

In 1987, Australian batsman Dean Jones hit a ball for a boundary against India. But the umpires were not sure if it was a “four” or a “six”. The nearest fielder Ravi Shastri suggested that it was a “four”. Dean Jones wasn’t happy and went to argue. The umpires consulted Kapil Dev’s opinion for which he generously accepted that it was a “six”. Eventually, India lost that match by one run.

England’s Graham Gooch is the only player to represent his nation in three different World Cup finals and lose all of them. He lost finals in three different decades. (1979, 1987, 1992)

Kepler Wessels became the first player to represent two countries in ODI history. He played for Australia from 1982 to 1985, before representing South Africa in 1991. Despite local outrage, Wessels was controversially named as South Africa’s captain for the 1992 World Cup.

During South Africa’s 1999 World Cup opener against India, captain Hansie Cronje and Allan Donald wore ear pieces to get instructions from their coach Bob Woolmer. India’s Sourav Ganguly noticed Cronje talking to himself and referred the case to the on-field umpires, who then asked both Cronje and Donald to remove the equipment after consulting with the match referee. However, the act was not considered to be against the laws of the game.